Text No. 1, 4, 6
Martin Luther, 1524

Text No. 2, 3, 5
Rearrangement by an unknown writer

First performance
29 October 1724

First performed on 29 October 1724, the cantata “Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir” (In deep distress I cry to thee), opens with a motet-style introductory chorus underscored by trombones – a choice of form and instrumentation most fitting to the venerated hymn on which the movement is based, namely Martin Luther’s version of Psalm 130. It seems that the hymn’s earnest character and distinctive Phrygian tonality made a composition in stile antico particularly appropriate; indeed, Bach also used this style for his six-part organ setting of the same hymn (BWV 686). The chorus opens with dense imitation in the lower voices, preparing each entry of the chorale melody in the soprano voice. In the closing lines, a pedal point on the note E serves as an effective means of both building tension and interpreting the text. While the sustained note reflects the word “stand”, the overlying harmonic tension reveals that mortal sinners indeed cannot stand before God. As such, Bach’s rendering of the question “Who can, Lord, stand before thee?” contains at one and the same time a damning response that charges the cantata with a pervading sense of existential woe.

The following alto recitative addresses this admission of sin by employing the classic Protestant tenet of justification by faith: “In Jesus’ mercy will alone our comfort be and our forgiveness rest”. Yet, in good Lutheran tradition, the faith needed to secure the promised comfort is lacking – the remaining lines are dedicated to this question of faith and the dilemma of overcoming affliction to attain peace of mind. The tenor aria then introduces a soothing turnaround, with the solo part weaving between the cantabile woodwind lines and an edgy basso continuo – an unusual voicing and a veritable “comfort amidst the suffering”. The subtlety of Bach’s compositional mastery is particularly apparent here in the concise continuo figure that not only culminates in a dissonant leap on the word “suffering”, but equally creates a rocking effect that reflects the word “comfort”.
The soprano recitative is marked “a battuta” (in strict time), perhaps unsurprisingly considering that the chorale melody is played through in full by the continuo. This approach lends the movement a certain aria-like quality, while still allowing for a convincing rendering of the fraught text.
The trio aria opens with a basso continuo ritornello that draws the listener immediately into the movement through its penetrating descending figure. The autonomy of this element enables Bach to uphold structural constancy in the face of an enticing variety of images in the libretto. While the intertwined descending lines echo the “fetters” of despair in the first vocal passage, this descent is effectively reversed by an ascending broken triad (“How soon appears the hopeful morning”) at the beginning of the second section. Nevertheless, by reverting to the music of the tragic opening for the closing phrase “upon the night of woe and sorrow”, and applying the basso continuo ritornello in the vocal parts, Bach ends the movement with a clear-sighted, rather than pessimistic, message on the persistence of suffering, despair and doubt. A chorale on the last verse of the Lutheran hymn, once again underscored by the dark timbre of the trombones, closes this extraordinarily expressive work.